Android 3.0 Honeycomb is a well-thought out tablet UI, and we had the stock experience on our preview Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 unit, about which you can read in our Android 3 Honeycomb Walkthrough. The retail unit, however, is supposed to come with TouchWiz UX, Samsung's tablet Android overlay, which comes with a Live Panel menu for customizing the home screens on the GALAXY Tab 10.1 with pictures, bookmarks and social network feeds. TouchWiz UX includes a “Mini Apps” tray for commonly used features such as task manager, calendar and music player, which is called by pressing a small arrow in the middle of the bottom Honeycomb strip. Not much added value here, but as long as it doesn't bog down the interface speed, we can live with it.

The Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 runs Android 3.0 Honeycomb

The stock Honeycomb interface was flying on our prototype Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 version, powered by the 1GHz dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 chipset, with which we were able to average about 2000 points on Quadrant, which is as good as it gets with this chipset on a tablet. The main menu has all the stock apps you'd expect of Honeycomb, with the addition of Samsung Apps, the company's application store, and Music Hub, the music locker. We'd guess that the other “Hubs” will be present on the final version as well.

Quadrant

Browsing felt mighty quick and flawless, the way it should be on a dual-core Android device. Scrolling, panning around, zooming and other standard interactions were just fluid and uneventful, even on this prototype unit. We scored 82314 on Browsermark with the GALAXY Tab 10.1, which is more than a third larger score than we manage to get with dual-core phones, a tribute to Honeycomb's multicore optimizations. As for Adobe Flash – it is fully supported and doesn't hinder the smooth operation of the browser, which is great. We were browsing via Wi-Fi, as that's the only Internet connectivity option in the version we had, and it picked up networks and logged on very quickly. The same is valid for the GPS chip - on cold start it located us for 2-3 minutes, and seconds after we were being happily guided by the robotic voice.

Surfing the web with the Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1

Now off to the multimedia capabilities of the device, starting with the camera interface. The GALAXY Tab 10.1 has the new camera interface from TouchWiz 4.0, with minimalistic fonts and plenty of options to play around with the 3MP camera on the back, and the front-facing one for video chat. Our GALAXY Tab 10.1 preview unit recorded HD 720p video with 30fps in .MP4 format. You can have a look at the stills and video we captured with it, but bear in mind they are taken with a non-final sample of the device.

The camera interface

The video camera interface

Outdoor samples made with the Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1

Strong

Medium

Low light

Darkness with flash

Indoor samples

Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 Sample Video:

Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 Indoor Sample Video:

The music playback is pretty decent with the default Honeycomb player, and the stereo speakers are situated on the high end of both sides, so as you don't cover them with your palms when holding the slate in landscape mode. The prototype unit played our MPEG-4 and DivX/Xvid Full HD 1080p video test samples with no issues at all.

The stock Honeycomb player

Music Hub

Expectations:

Overall, we were very pleased with what we saw in the Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 preview unit. It is shaping up to be one of the best Android tablets so far, be it only for the fact that it is the thinnest and lightest 10-incher out there. The only nuisance is the lack of a memory card slot in the Wi-Fi version that we had, so you'll have to make do with the internal memory. We also liked the stock Android Honeycomb feel, though in select markets, as the US, the Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 will ship with its tablet-optimized TouchWiz overlay.

If you want a more premium feel, you can choose one of the Asus Eee Pad Transformer or the Acer Iconia Tab A500 Android slates, with brushed aluminum finish, or innovative keyboard docks, which will also run you slightly cheaper; the Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 will be sold for $499 in the 16GB Wi-Fi version, and $599 for the 32GB one, starting June 17th, or June 8th, if you happen to live near Best Buy Union Square in New York. The ASUS and Acer tablets are not as thin and light though, so it all boils down to your personal preference. We will save our final judgment for when we get a finalized review unit, but what we handled so far in the prototype has tangible advantages that might bode well with consumers.

5.No Sale (unregistered)

No SD card, No standard USB jack, no sale.

Nice try Samsung, but tech savvy consumers want these features...and those who are willing to pay more than a Transformer for an Android tablet, expect more than looks. Those who just care about looks are buying an iPad.

7.Koosyo (unregistered)

Come on guys, who needs more than 32GB anyway on a tablet? Sure that's limiting but you can fit in this amount of GBs even on your desktop if you want to. Yeah... you want be able to put all of your fav porn on the device but watching porn in the park isn't what will be driving sales on these things. It's all about the mobility here and Samsung have done some terrific job in my view. I just also hope they come up with non-3G version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1v because I find it more attractive and if it's cheaper than it can complement with lighter version.

8.sacky (unregistered)

@Koosyo- It is not just to put one's favourite porn on the device but think about it. If I have a galaxy s2 that records 1080p I could simply copy the video to a MicroSD then transfer it to the Galaxy Tab.

It just makes for simple and easier movement of media in today's world of mobility of everything.
Don't you think so?

You make a good point and that is definitely something these readers need to consider, however most people use tablets in their household for leisure. This includes YouTube, web browsing, email, and games. None of that requires an SD card. If you need to watch a movie, 16GB is more than enough space for a nice high profile 720p video. Another option is to use a remote desktop client. Some of them use very high detail rendering, too. I own an Acer a500 and don't even use the SD card I bought for it. I found the way the system partitions the memory to be more of a hassle than it was worth.

9.Koosyo (unregistered)

@Sacky

Maaan, you are correct but I think in the future there will be more online syncing/storage services. That's even easier because you won't have to manually replace anything... just get access to some good bandwith. Let's see what's iCloud gonna be tommorow and if it includes something like self-made content sharing than I expect it to be copied from rivals like Google as well.

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